


Parting Gifts

by Melphis_Amekia



Series: Roseali Week 2017 [3]
Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Angst, F/F, Fluff, Roseali Week 2017, in which the girls go on some adventures, it's mostly heart-to-heart conversations, rosali, roseali, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-01
Updated: 2017-03-01
Packaged: 2018-09-27 18:36:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10038770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melphis_Amekia/pseuds/Melphis_Amekia
Summary: Alisha didn't generally like being woken up in the middle of a night by an intruder, but she supposed she could make an exception for this one.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I almost didn't write anything for Day 3: Follow my lead, but I got an idea and I am super happy with what I did with it. Hope you guys like it! Unfortunately, I'm not sure if I'll have anything for other days except for Days 5 and 8, but I'll try to write something!

Still half-sleeping, Alisha thought the knocks were coming from her dream. They soon became louder and faster, almost frantic in pace, making Alisha open her sleepy eyes. Looking around her dark room for the source of the disturbance, she realized it was coming from the window. Alisha had exactly one guess as to who would wake her up like this that late at night, and wasn’t sure how much she wanted to see her. Getting her to go away would take talking to her, unfortunately, so Alisha sighed, got out of bed, and opened the window before another round of knocks bullied her poor window.

„Rose, what are you doing here?” Alisha asked, ignoring how Rose almost lost her balance and fell straight on top of her. She looked like she was ready for something rogue-ish - a dark blue hoodie, her face and cherry-red hair barely visible in it, black pants, and dark running shoes.

„Thought I’d stop by, see how my favorite neighbor is doing.”

„That seems very likely.”

„That’s cause it is! Sheesh, don’t you trust me at all?”

Alisha shook her head. Someone else would have been tempted to argue and bicker, would ask Rose why they stopped being friends, who did she think she was, coming like this to her house. It did still hurt, yes, but Alisha didn’t like to dwell on that fact. Rather, she still remembered the time they _were_ friends, and those were the best times of her life. She could take not being near Rose they way she used to be.

„Drat. And here I thought I could just make you come with me?”

„What?” Alisha asked, her eyes widening.

„Listen.” Rose spoke, her voice suddenly grave and her face serious. „There are things I need to do tonight and I can’t do them alone. Important things, silly things, you name it. But, the only one I can trust to do them with is you.”

„Me? But...”

„Yeah, I know I haven’t been the best friend out there.” _An understatement if there ever was one, Alisha thought._ „This really is important, though. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t.”

This was a bad idea... but, just the five minutes she was around Rose again made her realize how much she missed being with her, how it already felt like they were more than friends.

„What do you need me to do?” she asked as if she was exasperated. Rose smiled.

„Just follow my lead.” She replied, took Alisha by her hand and dragging her out the window.

\---------------------

„I can’t believe you did it.”

„I can’t back down when I accepted the dare. It would be against my honor.”

„Always acting the honorable princess.” Rose spoke. „Still... I can’t believe you actually glued Lailah’s papers together. I was sure you’d back down from that prank because of „Lady Lailah”. Maybe you’re a lot less _honorable_ princess than you make yourself seem to be.”

Alisha wanted to protest in indignation, say that Rose was wrong... instead, she looked at the lake in front of them, thinking of what had transpired tonight as she sat beside Rose. She could not deny Rose’s statement.. Gluing Lailah’s favorite papers together was the most harmless thing she had done. Well, scrawling funny things on Edna’s umbrella could take that trophy, but she was sure when Edna found out who did it, it would not end well for either Rose or Alisha.

„Maybe I am. Is that a good or a bad thing?”

„Depends on what you feel, I guess. How do you feel right now? Rose asked, looking at her intently. There was something else in her deep blue eyes that Alisha couldn’t place, not yet at least.

„I am happy.” Alisha replied after a bit of thinking, again looking at the beautiful lake. „In fact, I haven’t been this happy in a long while.”

Expecting to find Rose smiling, she turned to her, only to find her hugging herself, her head buried in her knees.

„Rose! What’s wrong?” Alisha asked, worried(and weirded out) by the sudden change in Rose. What was going on? Tonight was perfect in every regard. There was no reason for Rose to feel bad, not one that Alisha knew.

„Alisha.” Rose said, her voice muffled and weak.

„Yes?” Her heart was beating like it was going to grind itself into dust any second. She wanted nothing more but to know what was troubling Rose the way it did now.

„I... I’m leaving. Today.”

„Leaving? What? How? Where? Most importantly, WHY?”

„Because this is not me, ok?” Rose shouted with so much anger,turning her head towards Alisha. „Or, rather.” Her expression softened, and she looked down into the ground again. „What happened tonight _is_ who I am. Maybe I have a „good” life here, but it is not what I want in my life. I want to go out and travel and live! But...” she trailed of, looking like the act of speaking was poison.

„But it means saying goodbye to everyone, am I right?” Alisha asked. It made sense. Rose was never one to stay in one place if she couldn’t help it. If anything, going out into the world like that was the perfect life for Rose.

The fact that this couldn’t be anything but goodbye still hurt like being pierced with a sword.

„Yeah. I’ve said my goodbyes to the rest of them, the ones I cared about, anyway. Tonight was supposed to be yours. It’s just that, now...”

Rose trailed off again, prompting Alisha to poke her in the ribs and ask: „Now what?”

She looked into Alisha’s eyes, sorrow etched into her face as if an ancient master sculptor worked on it.

„Now, I don’t want to leave. It’s like you said for yourself: I haven’t been this happy in a long while. And I’m doubting my decision more than ever did.”

„Do you want some time alone to decide?” Alisha wanted Rose to stay, but she knew this was something Rose had to decide for herself, and Alisha’s input would not be actually welcome. Rose shook her head faster than Alisha thought she would, though.

„No need. Perhaps I don’t want to leave you. Perhaps staying here with you would not be such a bad idea. But I know I’d regret more if I stayed here. Maybe if we could both go; I’m sure the thought crossed your mind!”

„It did, yes.” Alisha admitted, both to Rose and herself. With her duties, it was impossible, so she didn’t want to entertain the thought at all.

„That can’t happen, though, with you being an important family figure and whatever. Oh, well. There’s only so much I can make to work out. I guess I’ll just treasure this memory forever, then.”

Alisha had no idea what to say. She turned to the lake, stared at its black-ish blue surface. She saw her face in it, like it was a mirror, pointing straight back at her. _What do you want to do?_ , It seemed to ask. _What is your answer?_

 _What is my answer?_ , Alisha asked herself too, searching for it in the depths of her thoughts. Out of the swirling mass stood out one special idea, one she was scared to accept, but wanted to do more than anything. No other idea captivated her so much; no other idea seemed as bright and good and pretty as Rose herself. The strength of it scared her... and exhilarated her. She took one more glance at Rose, if only so she could take in as much of her before she left.

 _That settles it, then_. Alisha thought. She nodded, got up from the ground, and extended a hand to Rose.

„Huh?” Rose asked, pulling herself up with Alisha’s help.

„Rose.” Alisha started and took both of Rose’s hands in hers. „You have given me the best farewell gift I could have asked for. I don’t have much to give you but these two things.”

Rose gave her a quizzical look.

„It is true that I cannot join you now. However, I promise I will join you on your journey when I can. Nuh-uh, don’t protest! It is something I dearly want. Nothing, and I really mean _nothing_ , will stop me from doing so.”

„A-alright.” Rose said, looking slightly shaken. „What is the other thing you mentioned?”

Alisha smiled. „This.”

She pulled Rose in close and kissed her.

\----------

It had been years since she last saw her, ever since that night. Texts, videos, skyping... nothing compared to seeing her again, at the edge of a sandy beach, enjoying the summer sun.

Alisha wanted to approach without being noticed, but Rose must have had a sixth sense or something, because she didn’t get even near before Rose spotted her. The surprise was evident on her radiant face even so.

„Alisha?!” Rose yelled, sounding happy even through the surprise.

„Rose!” Alisha yelled back and ran towards her as fast as she could.


End file.
